Cigarettes, cigars and pipes are popular smoking articles that employ tobacco in various forms. Such smoking articles are used by heating or burning tobacco, and aerosol (e.g., smoke) is inhaled by the smoker. Electronic smoking articles are a further type of tobacco product, which comprise a reservoir and heating system for the delivery of aerosolizable materials. Tobacco also may be enjoyed in a so-called “smokeless” form. Particularly popular smokeless tobacco products are employed by inserting some form of processed tobacco or tobacco-containing formulation into the mouth of the user.
Various types of cigarette components, including tobacco types, tobacco blends, top dressing and casing materials, blend packing densities and types of paper wrapping materials for tobacco rods, are set forth in the art. See, for example, the various representative types of cigarette components, as well as the various cigarette designs, formats, configurations and characteristics, that are set forth in Johnson, Development of Cigarette Components to Meet Industry Needs, 52nd T.S.R.C. (September 1998); U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,839 to Jakob et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,944 to Arzonico et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,930 to Gentry and U.S. Pat. No. 6,779,530 to Kraker; US Pat. App. Pub. Nos. 2005/0016556 to Ashcraft et al.; 2005/0066986 to Nestor et al.; 2005/0076929 to Fitzgerald et al.; 2006/0272655 to Thomas et al.; 2007/0056600 to Coleman, III et al.; and 2007/0246055 to Oglesby, each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Exemplary smokeless tobacco formulations, ingredients, and processing methodologies are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 1,376,586 to Schwartz; U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,917 to Levi; U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,756 to Pittman et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,993 to Sensabaugh, Jr. et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,269 to Story et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,599 to Tibbetts; U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,907 to Townsend; U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,352 to Sprinkle, III et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,416 to White et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,839 to Williams; U.S. Pat. No. 6,834,654 to Williams; U.S. Pat. No. 6,953,040 to Atchley et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 7,032,601 to Atchley et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,694,686 to Atchley et al.; US Pat. Pub. Nos. 2004/0020503 to Williams; 2005/0115580 to Quinter et al.; 2006/0191548 to Strickland et al.; 2007/0062549 to Holton, Jr. et al.; 2007/0186941 to Holton, Jr. et al.; 2007/0186942 to Strickland et al.; 2008/0029110 to Dube et al.; 2008/0029116 to Robinson et al.; 2008/0173317 to Robinson et al.; 2008/0196730 to Engstrom et al.; 2008/0209586 to Neilsen et al.; 2008/0305216 to Crawford et al.; 2009/0065013 to Essen et al.; 2009/0293889 to Kumar et al.; 2010/0291245 to Gao et al. and 2011/0139164 to Mua et al.; PCT WO 04/095959 to Amarp et al. and WO 2010/132444 A2 to Atchley; each of which is incorporated herein by reference. Exemplary smokeless tobacco products that have been marketed include those referred to as CAMEL Snus, CAMEL Orbs, CAMEL Strips and CAMEL Sticks by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company; GRIZZLY moist tobacco, KODIAK moist tobacco, LEVI GARRETT loose tobacco and TAYLOR'S PRIDE loose tobacco by American Snuff Company, LLC; KAYAK moist snuff and CHATTANOOGA CHEW chewing tobacco by Swisher International, Inc.; REDMAN chewing tobacco by Pinkerton Tobacco Co. LP; COPENHAGEN moist tobacco, COPENHAGEN Pouches, SKOAL Bandits, SKOAL Pouches, RED SEAL long cut and REVEL Mint Tobacco Packs by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company; and MARLBORO Snus and Taboka by Philip Morris USA.
Many smoking devices have been proposed through the years as improvements upon, or alternatives to, smoking products that require combusting tobacco for use. Many of those devices purportedly have been designed to provide the sensations associated with cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoking, but without delivering considerable quantities of incomplete combustion and pyrolysis products that result from the burning of tobacco. To this end, there have been proposed numerous smoking products, flavor generators, and medicinal inhalers that utilize electrical energy to vaporize or heat a volatile material, or attempt to provide the sensations of cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoking without burning tobacco to a significant degree. See, for example, the various alternative smoking articles, aerosol delivery devices and heat generating sources set forth in the background art described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,320 to Robinson et al., U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2013/0255702 to Griffith Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. Pub. Nos. 2014/0000638 to Sebastian et al., 2014/0060554 to Collett et al., 2014/0060555 to Chang et al., 2014/0096781 to Sears et al., 2014/0096782 to Ampolini et al., and 2015/0059780 to Davis et al., which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Certain of these types of smoking articles, smokeless tobacco products, and electronic smoking articles comprise a tobacco extract, which in some products may be purified such that the extract is comprised primarily of nicotine. However, tobacco extracts comprising a high percentage of nicotine (including extracts comprising at least about 90%, at least about 95%, and at least about 99% nicotine by weight) are typically in oil form. As such, nicotine extracts can be difficult to handle and incorporate into certain tobacco products.
It would be desirable to provide such nicotine-based extracts in a form that is amenable to incorporation in tobacco products. It would further be desirable to incorporate such extracts into an enjoyable form of a tobacco product and to provide processes for preparing such forms of nicotine-based extracts as well as for preparing various types of compositions and products incorporating such forms of nicotine-based extracts.